{Rules of PR no.17} I Am, I Said

Recently, a political aide resigned after diving into part of political a dispute on the Beer Summit viaÂ their Facebook page.

But like the MetroÂ asks, whatâ€™s the big deal about cooking up some steamy words?

Well, apparently, itâ€™s a big deal when youâ€™re in the public eye. But did you know that the public eye also consists of your social networking outlets andÂ it is your responsibility to set your own parameters for how personal it really is or is not?

A lot of people donâ€™t realize this and itâ€™s aiding in their slow self-destruction.

A tweep of mine, recently told me, he doesnâ€™t put anything on his blog, the PR Buzz, which he doesnâ€™t want his grandmother to read.

I personally, adhere to the same rules, and if a specific post on the Little Pink Book calls for a content warning, I post one up.

Itâ€™s quite simple and let me put it as blunt as possible: cover your @$$ before the s#!^ hits the fan.

As said previously, Googleâ€™s cache has a memory like a saturated beast. You can find ANYTHING on Google â€“ and now Bing! â€“Â especially, if you are savvy enough to know how/what to look [for.]

Beer Summit image by Reuters

Lee Landor, a press secretary for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, had to resign last week after a debate erupted on his Facebook about racial profiling. Landor called President Obama â€œO-dumb-aâ€ and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. a â€œracist.â€

The thing about social networking sites â€“ and a thing about your personal branding â€“ do you really want the things you say to come after you?

Sometimes we donâ€™t say things we mean, and often our blood pressure gets the better of us. This is basic human nature and some people have no license on their mouths. There are no faults about being a human.

However,Â people do have license on whereÂ they mouth off.

So you want to get personal and rowdy on your Facebook/Twitter etc.,?

Put up strong privacy settings and only â€œfriendâ€ your friends. Remember once you open up your â€œinvitesâ€ to strangers, employers etc., you are opening up a new Pandora â€™s Box of â€œcan I?â€ and â€œcan I not?â€

Itâ€™s like Shakespeare said, â€œThe evil that men do live after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.”

Google and Bing will remember.

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Little Pink Bookâ€™s Rule of PRÂ #17:I am, I said.You are what you say, even if you don’t really mean it.

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Sasha Muradali runs the â€˜Little Pink Bookâ€™ . She holds a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Florida (â€™07)Â and an M.A. in International Administration from the University of Miami(â€™08). She loves Twitter and all things social media, so you should find her @SashaHalima.

Comments

really good point, something that i definitely adhere to, I also take my “tagged” name off of pics on facebook that may be potentially damaging, I've also heard of people requesting friends or family to take down embarrassing pics.

really good point, something that i definitely adhere to, I also take my “tagged” name off of pics on facebook that may be potentially damaging, I've also heard of people requesting friends or family to take down embarrassing pics.

really good point, something that i definitely adhere to, I also take my “tagged” name off of pics on facebook that may be potentially damaging, I've also heard of people requesting friends or family to take down embarrassing pics.